The Way Things Fall
by Circius
Summary: On his last mission to bring Sasuke back, Naruto failed, for what might be the last time. Now, with a progressing amnesia slowly starting to eat away his mind, can Naruto ever find what he lost? Implied SasuNaruSasu, and a one crazy Kyuubi. Au...ish.
1. Chapter 1: Nameless

_© Circius, 2008_

**Author's Notes: Ehh...I ish BACK! I haven't written in a year or so, but I dunno, I felt like now was the time again. All my other works will be going through some serious re-editing, and all that blah, but otherwise, please enjoy the newest ficidee as muchos as possibles. (Yes, I did just use INSTA-SPANGLISH)**

**By the way, my name is now changed to my username on LiveJournal, as to not confuse peoples. My old Pen-name was 'Zephyr Blade' so if you've heard of me, or liked anything by me before, PLEASE DON'T HESITATE TO SAY SO! I LUUUUUUUUUURVE ALL REVIEWS!!**

**Info on the fic:**

**Warnings: **

**Rated T** for some cursing, angsty-ness, and other...t-rated things...for now. The rating will possibly change later as well, depending on my mood. .-

**Implied SasuNaruSasu **for this chappie, and for others...I guess, but this will eventually be a full out YAOI, SHONEN AI FICIDEE!! If any of you are homophobes or have a problem, don't read, and if you do and flame me...I will choose to ignore you. Thanks though for your consideration! .

**Ummm...and I think that's about it.**

**Anywho's, now that that's all done with, and without further adieu', I, Circius, am quite happy to present to you all the first chapter of my new line of Rebirthed fics...TA-DAAA!! cues drum roll**

…**Oh wait. There was that damn disclaimer thing too wasn't there.**

**Okay:**

**The Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any of its affiliates. I only own my charries, whose names will not be revealed until the next chapter. It I did own Naruto…no, I don't think I want to own it, I just want to own everything male-related. So that's only about half…right? KISHIMOTO, WILL YOU GIVE ME HALF?!**

**Bah, he couldn't hear me. Damn.**

**So NOW, I can give you the fic: Yays. **

_--_

The Way Things Fall:

Chapter One: Nameless

_--_

"SASUKE!"

It was his last word, last chance. Maybe because it was screamed with such utter finality, such utter hate merging with hope and despair, that a dark-haired face turned from where it had been looking towards before, ever so smoothly, but in the achingly slow manner that only seems to come into effect at the worst of moments.

It was in those same moments that one would always hear one's heart, beating louder then anything else, throbbing as though it was some sort of twisted staccato in the under tone of the orchestra in one's head. As though trying to tell him, to warn him of something.

All his thoughts, all of his emotions and memories seemed to swirl into the never-ending lapse of time, where nothing else in the world except for _him_ existed. Naruto felt everything, everything freeze as their eyes met.

He took in a bleeding cut on a royally-high cheekbone, crimson running down otherwise unmarred ivory skin. He took in the way perfect facial features seemingly remained still and cool as their eyes met, sky blue searching ebony-but it was only seemingly. It was an effort not to care, but the blonde knew him too well. He knew the way the lip would twitch up into a smirk, or an elegant brow would raise in mocking question. He knew the glare that was equivalent to a roll of an eye from the look of pure and utter hatred he had seen before.

That he was seeing now.

Was he really that worthless? Did everything really mean nothing?

They had been fighting for so long, and still, though he had not lost, he had not won anything either.

"Sasuke…"

Was the last whisper on his numb lips as the face turned away, and he fell into what seemed to be a deep valley gorge in the land of Rock, but to him-

Naruto Uzumaki fell into a darkness worse then those eyes could ever be.

--

"Eh…ELLOOOOO!! Can ya hear me…mister? MISTER!"

Brilliant blue eyes blinked open into bright jade, startling the small body that had been leaning over him, yelling.

His initial reflex was to jump up and silence her, but the second he saw that it was only a child, he relaxed, sliding his eyes shut again.

Sometimes he hated being what he was. A ninja, an assassin. Trained to kill without even thinking about it.

"Mister? You up? HEY! DON'T YOU GO AND CLOSE YOUR EYES AGAIN MISTER!"

He heard the high-pitched voice squealing at him. Bluer then what was quite natural eyes blinked open, obeying the command in a lazy manner.

"Mmm-"

Was all he managed to croak out at first, before he licked his overly chapped lips as he tried to pull himself up, almost wincing at the sudden movement that sent muscle pains shooting through his system.

"HOLD ON MISTER, I'LL GO GET GRANDMAAA!"

The voice screeched again, in a way that seemed all too annoying to be humanly possible, before Naruto could even get the next phrase out of his sore mouth.

"…Water…"

He trailed off as he watched a midget with wild, ruby-colored hair bolt off into the direction of a place in the distant filled with ever blinking and shining lights; he assumed it to be a town of some sort.

He felt the bandages on his person before actually seeing them, and looked himself over momentarily at the registration of said bandages wrapped around him in his head. His torn up hands were all but invisible against the antiseptic white, and the throbbing in his chest was the instant tell-tale of broken ribs. His legs were miraculously unharmed, while one of the bones his left arm was cracked, or at least that's what he could tell from the feel of Kyuubi's chakra flowing around it and every other injury on his person already. His head felt like it had been hit by a boulder-oh wait never mind.

It had been.

But he was patched up quite nicely, as professionally as though it was done by a medic nin. Satisfied with his caretaker's work, the ninja pulled up a spiky blonde head to inspect his surroundings.

He seemed to be in some sort of…rock camp? Or at least, that was the best terminology for it. The only buildings present were nothing more then little hovels made of some generic grey stone, all squatting on the ground in a circular formation, the center of which was the blonde himself, sitting next to a great pyre-like structure that he assumed to be a fire pit for the evening. There was no light, save for the sun, anywhere in the vicinity, but bright and cheerfully colored mats and blankets were sprawled everywhere, outside and in, falling out of windows and doors, effectively making the place seem as though it was its own little womb of space, completely out of the world around it or the laws of time.

He fingered the tassel of a rug nearby his left hand , thinking about what he should do next.

He obviously couldn't stay here. The second he was healed, he would have to thank them-whoever they may be-for their hospitality and go back to...

To the last place he really wanted to go at the moment. He would return, a failure for the umpteenth time at bringing back his damn best friend-turned enemy, the damn raven of the damn-

Wait.

Troubled at a sudden thought, the blonde searched his head. He could see faces, tons of them, and he could recall any memory he cared to think of with painfully perfect accuracy, as he was always able to.

There was one at some valley, with himself and his once-friend, a battle where the…raven swore to kill him, and he remembered the fighting, the anger, Kyuubi, the raven screaming a word--

He saw a pink-haired, green eyed medic nin patching him up again after his second return from his search.

"You need to watch yourself--"

A familiar, smiling silver-haired jonin, his mask covering half his features as he giggled over the book he was reading.

"Now, now, no need to get all worked up--"

And then that memory, like all the others, was cut off too, who he knew had to be his sensei continuing to speak, but the blonde could not hear any of the words.

Or word.

It hit him like that huge rock had earlier, slamming him into that cliff.

He…couldn't remember…his…name?

He sat there frozen again, sorting through every thought of his brain, every memoir of his past.

He could remember everything but his…name. That and the name of anyone he knew or anyplace he had gone for that matter.

"KYUUBI!!"

He screamed, throwing himself into his mind as the old white pervert-whose name he could also not remember-had taught him to.

He sloshed through the sewers of his mental chambers with a grim purpose. If Kyuubi was trying to be funny, it had another thing coming.

"KYUUBI!"

He shouted when he arrived at the place where the fox demon was sealed away in his head.

The beast looked at him, somewhat amused at his anger.

"_What is it, kit? To have you so angry, storming around…"_

The fox chuckled as the blonde steamed.

"My memories Kyuubi. Where the hell are the missing parts of my memories?"

He asked coldly, in a tone he hardly ever used, voice completely serious and dripping with venom.

"_Hmm? What?"_

Kyuubi sounded more somber at the attitude change from its vessel.

"My name, Kyuubi. What is it, and how come I can't remember it or anyone else's?!"

"_You're name kit? Well it's--"_

Demonically red eyes widened marginally as the fox too thought.

"_I…don't know."_

It was an uncharacteristically quiet response for the usually loud and sardonic spirit. Blue eyes met crimson as the two met gazes.

"What do you talking about, that you don't know? THAT YOU DON'T KNOW?!"

The blonde, by this point, was starting to get hysterical, said hysteria did nothing more to piss said fox off.

"_I DON'T KNOW YOUR NAME, AND I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO YOU'RE MEMORIES, BECAUSE I CAN ONLY REMEMBER WHAT YOU CAN REMEMBER!!"_

It roared.

"…What?"

Now he was quiet again, and the fox, somewhat mollified, decided to explain to the best of its abilities what had just happened…

"_I don't know. I just healed you, kit…"_

And the best of his abilities was proven to not be much at all. There was a silence.

"That doesn't make sense. If you just healed me, how come I don't--"

"_It wasn't a normal healing kit…he almost…you were close enough to be touched by Shinigami's breath, and I don't ever want to be that near to the God of Death __ever__ again."_

Naruto continued to look off past Kyuubi's form in an almost dazed sort of manner, contemplating. It was a long moment, close to strained with all the tension. One of the many tails twitched in agitation that not even it, the powerful, god-like Kyuubi, could not recall the kit's name.

"But how come I can remember your name Kyuubi? And not my own?"

The question floated in the air momentarily before the fox took a deep breath before replying with,

"_Because I am a part of you, just as much as a hand or eye or leg. Our chakras are merged together thanks to that leak that…snake-man put on your seal how many years ago. Names are not a part of someone physically, as I am to you. Names are only part of what you are referred to as on the outside. They are useless except to classify you and jostle your psyche a bit. I never had a name. Kyuubi no Kitsune is just what the humans labeled me as."_

The nin seemed to absorb all of the information, and was still for a moment. Kyuubi actually thought the kit had understood, and was going to be okay, take it like an adult when--

"WHAT'S THAT SUPPOSE TO MEAN!? THAT'S THE STUPIDEST THING I'VE EVER HEARD! MY NAME'S PART OF ME! ME! I AM…I am…"

Never-mind then. The demon winced a little as a tanned fist was slammed into one of the walls, causing a crack to form.

"_You are labeled kit. Let's try and put our minds to better use then this moping, yes?"_

When blue eyes turned back to face the fox, Kyuubi noticed frustrated tears building up behind them. Behind them, but never actually dripping down past the eyes and onto whiskered cheeks. It was a trait about the kit that had always thrown the kitsune for a loop. No matter whatever happened, the blonde never cried. Ever. He'd always just swallow back the pain and start again.

"What do you mean?"

"_I mean, we should start thinking about how we should get your memories back."_

It seemed to perk the blonde up a bit, and he straightened, not even having to wipe his eyes to have the salty little traitors already receding back into his body.

Or…mental body that is.

"Well, maybe if we--"

"OIIIIII!! CAN YOU HEAR ME, MIDGIT?!"

A cackling, rheumatic-sounding voice boomed throughout the blonde's mind at that current moment, sending both of the mentalities within the place rocking.

"_Better go get the door kit."_

Kyuubi grumbled, moving back to make itself as comfortable as possible inside its cage.

"_Who knows, they might be able to tell you something."_

"Right."

And as the blonde faded away, one more thought rang out from the fox.

"_It is __his__ fault, you know. I don't know why you are so obsessive only with just that one measly human, even though he is strong and…your rival. You'd think there would actually be a reason for anything in this world anymore, ne, kit? Are you sure you know, that you understand? He hates you. Its only fair for him for the feeling to be mutual. Hell, I bet he'd prefer it much more that way."_

There was a silence, and at first the demon thought his vessel didn't catch it, seeing as there was no predictable outburst, until, just as Naruto was opening his eyes to the painful sun again, he replied in a voice that cracked midway, filled with so many emotions that Kyuubi couldn't even name them all; hatred, betrayal, pain, sadness, hope, despair, and still somewhat caring and concerned. Kyuubi couldn't understand how much effect all the oxymorons would have, even when bleeding only through a mere two words.

"I know."

_/I know./_

**SOOOOOOO, that's it! Review! REVIEW! I LOOOOVE REVIEWS! They make the world go round. Like Mooney. And Murphy's Law. **


	2. Chapter 2: Of Rats and Mad Hatters

© Circius 2008

--

**Well, I've now decided this will probably end up being a pre-slash, and have the sequal be the full SasuNaruSasu goodness. Or maybe not...BAH! I can never make up my mind.**

**Also, now you are about to be introduced to OLD HATTIE and the Rat. Two of my favorite OCs (yes, I do own them). Please don't worry over the fact that yes, this story will be filled with OCs...I'm sorry, but there wasn't anybody else that would fit, and I promise my OCs also won't be annoying, with like...uber powers and stuff. They'll just have strange blood-line limits...and a few weird features. Please don't hate my fluffy OCs! I do lurves them.**

**I'm glad that a lot of people are favoriting this story, and I do appreciate it! No scratch that, I lurve it! And I don't beg for reviews, but often, I appreciate them so much more, thinking that people actaually cared enough to WRITE to me! And I guess that's true for any author though...peh, just trying to say I appreciate you all. HUGS AND KISSES!!**

**Disclaimer:** Seriously. If I owned Naruto in any way, shape, or form, I WOULDN'T BE WRITING THIS!!

**Yes, well, now...ON WITH THE SHOW!**

--

The Way Things Fall:

Chapter Two: Of Rats and Mad Hatters

--

The blonde's eyes were heavy, as though they were coated in the heaviest of leads. Tanned eye-lids slid open only for the blue gaze to be struck by the too-bright sun, so they were once more snapped shut, willing the burning light to go away.

"OIIII! DID YOU HEAR ME MIDGET?! I SAID OIIIIIIIII!"

But the voice did not leave his conscious alone, and since he was a benevolent soul by nature, who did not like to cause a ruckus, the eyes opened again at the command of the cracking, heaving sound of the words.

"SWEET KAMI!"

He swore, the hand that had pushed him up into sitting position slipping as he tumbled backwards.

The face looming at him was grinning.

She was obviously an old woman, but not an old like the woman he remembered calling the hag was, no, it was an ancient kind of old, with the humming of long forgotten powers hovering around her, or at least, that was how much the blonde could tell from his Kyuubi-enhanced senses. Her hair was wispy and scraggily, but long, held up by hundreds of intricate twists and braids, and even then, loose pieces of the grey and white still tumbled freely, pooling around her hips. Her back was hunched over, her limbs long and boney, her fingers slender and spider-like. There was no place on her body that was not covered in folds, wrinkles, or scars, save for her hands, which looked eerily youthful, swirling dark henna tattoos covering them completely before starting to fade away at her forearms, where there were only markings here and there.

Otherwise her skin was colored like mushrooms, but not splotchy at all, just faded gold and grey, weathered away by time; from what seemed to be many years of harsh life. Her nose was sharp, slightly crooked, thin, wrinkled lips twitching up at the corners in her smile, her frayed, grey eyebrows raised in a sarcastic manner.

But her eyes were what had freaked the Kyuubi vessel out most of all. It was her eyes that held the glimmer of danger, of madness, but it was not that that had him nervous, because Gods knew how often he had seen it-no.

It was the fact that she had no pupils, no color on the pale eyeballs rolling around in their sockets. Nothing but an eerie, opaque white that reflected whatever she gazed at, coated over by a thin layer of cataracts, clouded in their gaze as both eyes met, obviously marking her as blind…though she sure didn't act like she was, knowing exactly where his eyes were and looking through them. Yes, through them, not into them, but in a way that seemed she was gazing at the very depths of his soul. It wasn't even like Hyuuga eyes, where there was still the hint of color in their depths. There was nothing but that pure, emotionless white.

It was unnerving.

"Ah! I see you're awake now, aren't ya, midget?"

She cackled in her wheezy voice, looking as though she was about to keel over at any moment.

The blue-eyed nin pushed himself back up into a sitting position, crossing his legs over themselves as he kept her gaze, acting as thought he wasn't perturbed by them, while on the inside, he most definitely was.

Her clothing was somewhat akin to a gypsy queen's (1), or at least, the kind the blonde had always read about in story books as a child; with a millions scarves, bells, charms, talismans and trinkets all over her person, overtop ripped silk layers of skirts and shirts.

"Who…who are you?"

He asked hesitantly. The woman laughed again, she laughed the kind of laugh only old people seem to be able to make, crazily, in a very senile manner as she rustled her clothes a bit in order to sit down on a mat nearby.

"Why, me? I'm Old Hattie. The one who saved your sorry ass, I'll have you know."

The blonde blinked…did she just start insulting him for no reason?

He jumped again as she laughed in that nerve-racking manner once more.

"Ho, you're a funny one, you are. Bruising so easily from that fall, and then Kyuubi trying to heal you away."

She gave a grin, her eyes closing at the width of it. Blue eyes noted that she had a few canines missing as well, over to the sides of her mouth, but her front teeth were browning somewhat, yet they were filed like certain villages had their nin do it, to a sharp point.

But then, something clicked.

"Wha--Kyuubi? How do you know about Kyuubi?"

Her eyes opened again to stare at him, and he suppressed a shudder as he saw a fly crawl across it without her even blinking, standing in the center and looking around like some deformed pupil.

"How do I know the nine-tailed fox demon? HA!"

The nin jumped again as she leaned forward, watching the fly drop dead off her face. What--

"Once you get as old as I am, there's few things you haven't seen…though I do consider myself quite…knowledgeable in demons. Gods know I've learned as much as I could about them all my life. Yes, I would know Kyuubi's chakra from anywhere."

Her wrinkled lips moved in a manner that was indecipherable to probably the most skilled of lip-readers, and he wasn't even sure how she was able to form actual words.

She looked at him expectantly for a response, and he fidgeted a bit with the rug underneath him.

"Wait…so you know about demons Mrs…erm, Hattie--is that even Japanese?"

He asked, starting to get used to the odd woman in front of him as he slowly began to relax. If she was going to kill him, she probably would've done it already.

"Nope!"

Another cackle.

"Well…what is your name?"

"Aww, she won't tell you, Old Hattie don't tell no one what her name is. Takes away from her powers, Or…least that's what she told me. Hello mister!"

A giggling voice came up from above, sitting on a rock, her small legs swinging down. It was the girl that he vaguely remembered waking up to, with ruby-red hair and eyes Jealousy would be most envious of, a bright, poisonous green in color.

She added on her greeting to the end, and her grammar was completely improper, but what actually threw the blue-eyed nin off was the fact he hadn't been able to tell she was there. A child her age, she looked to be roughly eight or so, couldn't have possibly mastered the gift of masking chakra yet, it was impossible. And how come he hadn't heard her get over there anyway?!

'_That's because she's got something weird in her chakra signature. I can't even pick her up. It's almost as though the child doesn't even…exist…'_

Kyuubi answered the question in his mind, and he stored the information away for later.

"Hee-I'm Nezumi! Who are you?"

"Rat?"

He questioned. It was most definitely an odd name if anything.

"Yes, Rat, because that's what she is, little vermin--"

Old Hattie muttered under her breath as the Rat stood up indignantly.

"You shut-up Wrinkle-face!"

"WHAT DID YOU CALL ME YOU LITTLE--"

"Wrinkle-face, Wrinkle-face! Nah-nah nah nah-nah!"

Rat started running around in circles before turning to the now standing, fuming old woman and sticking out her tongue. The fox-demon container cringed from the yell that came from the frail old body in response.

"I'M GOING TO CURSE YOU RAT-ASS INTO THE NEXT CENTURY YOUR LITTLE VERMIN PIECE OF--"

"HEEEEEY!"

Both parties blinked and looked at him oddly. He had his hands in the air and was waving them to get their attention.

Said hands fell back to his sides as he turned to the witch-woman.

"So, erm, Old Hattie, I wanted to thank you very much for your hospitality, and I don't want to impose on your company for too long, so…if you would just give me back the clothing I came in, I'd be most thankful…"

He trailed off, motioning to his new ensemble of light brown farmer-pants a few sizes too big, matched with a billowy white shirt that also hung off of him like a bag.

Nezumi grinned before skipping down the rocks in a zig-zag formation until she stopped right in front of him. Her hair was braided, save for a few shorter chunks framing her heart-shaped face, with two long ribbons that flowed behind her. Her ears were pierced all the way up, and she wore a smart little corset with short shorts. The odd thing about her though, the thing that drew one's eye immediately, was the large, ugly black scar running up her chest all the way to her lips, perfectly splitting her body into two halves before shooting off to the left-barely missing her whole nose to curve off in a line right underneath her left eye, where it then seemed to take on a swirling pattern, similar to the tattoos all over Hattie's person. The black was hideously dark against her pale, flower-like skin, and seemed to pulse in a sickly manner, like a throbbing wound.

The blue stare went from the scar to her blinking jade eyes, eyes that should've been filled with such innocence of the world--

But weren't.

"What…what happened?"

The Rat just giggled before she leaned forward in a stretch and said,

"We had to burn your clothes, a'cause you were COVERED in BLOOD and it was all ripped up and…yeah. Stuffs like that."

"What?!"

He cried out indignantly, temporarily pushing his question to the back of his mind untill later.

Hattie laughed again, in that wheezy, rheumatic manner.

"Because they were utterly destroyed anyway. It doesn't really matter anymore though does it? What's done is done midge--you know…you are much taller standing up. I think I'll call you Blondie instead…yes. Blondie fits. Yours locks are like gold you know."

She told him matter of factly as she hobbled over to where the two of them were standing to grab him by the scalp of his hair.

"Ooww--"

"Yup, like gold. Smells funny though."

She stated as Nezumi giggled.

The blonde gave her a look that the girl ignored as she sat down on the mat and patted the spot beside her. He stared for a moment before Hattie sat down as well, and then he hesitantly joined them.

"So. Blondie. What's your real name? And mind telling what happened to you out there? Or at least…tell us what you remember…"

Blue-eyes looked the seemingly harmless old-woman with a different light. First Kyuubi, now this--

"How do you know about my memories?"

She whirled on him, a twister of clinking metals and colorful silks.

"Because I saved your LIFE."

He didn't understand precisely what she was saying until it sunk in after a moment of silence.

"No you didn't, Kyuubi--"

"You were hit with a strike of Chakra with the strength equivalent of roughly five lightning bolts, and your head was just about cracked in half from that fall you took. The nine-tailed fox was doing all it could, but when the part of your brain that dealt with all of your memories was bleeding profusely…well, the brain is a delicate thing, and your lucky I got there before the demon's chakra fried all of it. You were thiiiiis close to becoming a vegetable all your life."

Hattie pinched her flabby forefingers until they were about a hairsbreadth apart for emphasis as the information started to process in his still aching head.

"Wait--Kyuubi almost--what?"

Inside of its prison, a certain Kyuubi twitched its tail a bit.

'_Ehh…from what I can recall, I was just sending as much chakra as possible to keep you alive…though what she's saying is true, they have medic-nin's especially trained just for brain-injuries, because it can only be healed in a manner that requires delicate and precise chakra control--'_

'I KNEW THAT!'

'_Yeah well…I…erm…forgot about that tiny little detail?'_

He rolled his mental eyes at the demon, who in return, fumed.

'_YOU KNOWYOU WOULD'VE BEEN DEAD A LONG TIME AGO WITHOUT ME YOU BRAT! YOU SHOULD LEARN TO GIVE ME SOME RESPECT--'_

'After you just about FRIED MY BRAIN?!'

He shot back.

There was silence.

He looked up from his inward battle to see Hattie and Nezumi looking at him interestedly.

"Were you talking to Mr. Kyuubi mister?"

The younger girl wanted to know, her eyes like saucers.

"…yes…."

"Can you do that whenever you want?"

"Umm…yes…"

"THAT'S SO COOL!"

She cried, apparently fascinated by him. He smiled sheepishly before rubbing the back of his head, ruffling his blonde hair in the process.

Hattie then pulled out a bag from the many folds of her clothes and looked to Rat.

"Vermin, I need you to get the rest of us. Tell 'em I'm with the newbie, and to move their asses back here, or we're leaving next dawn without them."

The ruby-haired girl looked disappointed, and gave a small pout.

"Already? But we just got 'ere a month ago, and I wanna get ta know the new mister more--"

"You will, don't worry. Go now, and hurry up with it!"

The bag was tossed to Rat, who caught it with the tips of her fingers before glaring at the hag in front of her, and then, deciding that arguing a bit more would be pointless, she turned on her heel to run back to the place in the distance where the blonde assumed the rest of "them", whoever "they" may be, were.

Once she was out of hearing range, Hattie cackled to herself before turning back to him, locking his blue-gaze with her own eerie one.

"Well now, let us see the extent of all your mental damage."

She rummaged in her clothing again before her tattoo-covered hand emerged victoriously with a long wooden rod. She put it in between them before leaning over to whisper some words to it. He watched interestedly, eyes widening as the rod glow a pastel blue color, lighter then the sky, and ribbons of chakra wound itself about it--

But it was only there for a moment, when he blinked, it was nothing more then a normal rod again.

She grinned that pointed-tooth grin again as he looked at her questioningly.

"Now, how old are you?"

"Nineteen."

He said, without hesitation. She raised an eye-brow at him, before muttering under breath something--"

"hrmmm…younger…expected…strange…"

But that was all he could catch before she shot another question at him.

"When's your birthday?"

He opened his mouth to respond confidently--but then, his smile faded.

"-I-I…I…don't remember…"

He trailed off, searching his mind…but all he came up with was blank.

Hattie nodded, as though that was a perfectly acceptable answer.

"Right then, so…do you remember your name?"

There was a pause before the defeated sigh.

"No."

"Hmm…well then, that's fine. I think I'll give you a new one though, since I don't think you'd like everyone here calling you Blondie--"

"Does it matter? I'm going to leave here soon anyway, once I can get some decent clothes--"

Spider-like hands, whose youth contradicted her otherwise ancient body, slammed down onto the rug/blanket in front of him.

"You aren't that smart in the medical field are you Blondie?"

He stared at her, a pit falling in his stomach.

"What's that suppose to mean?"

She sighed, before looking at him with blank, yet seemingly sad eyes, slow, creaking movements finely befitting her age.

"When you fell, like I said before, you got that internal bleeding in your mind…and well, having so much foreign chakra smash your system so thoroughly…it was such a shock that your brain completely shut down. If it wasn't for the Demon-Fox…you would've died long before I reached you, but his chakra was pretty much only a home-made life-support. It couldn't heal all the damage that you sustained, especially in your brain, because it was too overwhelming, and it didn't know how."

She paused, staring intently at the rod on the ground, as though it would help her explain.

"When I did find you, the fox's chakra, still trying to heal you, but not succeeding, worked like any other subconscious-controlled healer in your body would at the time when your brain finally beginning to fully shut-down…"

She looked up at him, her words slamming into his conscious with painful honesty ringing in every sentence.

"It tried to destroy the problem…which meant literally trying to take out that whole section of your brain. I only got there in time to stop…most of the damage. Your body's still weak, if you haven't noticed, the foxes chakra's still giving you the energy to stay awake."

The nin blinked before checking himself.

Damn. The witch was right.

"But, you stopped it, so doesn't that mean that I just don't remember certain things? I could just find my way back, and I bet once I hear my name or something like that again, it'll all coming rushing back--"

"No."

His optimism was cut off by her dark words, said with such ill forbiddance.

"Remember how I was talking about that foreign chakra you were hit with by whomever the hell your enemy was?"

"Yeah…"

His voice was suddenly rough at the memories of that certain opponent--his fingers slowly curled into fists.

That…bastard.

"Well, it also slipped into your own chakra stream, and of course, you must know about how another person's un-reined chakra inside you can be extremely toxic…well, your chakra flow goes to your brain as well, and it was then that the foreign chakra clashed with the Kyuubi's…and then…then it melded with the demon chakra that was also trying to destroy that part of you to form a…poison, if you will."

"A poison?"

Came the shaky question as the blue eyes looked up to meet the white, said white turned back to gazing at her rod.

"Something like that, yes…what I'm trying to say is that since it's mixed with Kyuubi's chakra, your body doesn't realize that it's bad and…though I tried to clean it out, I couldn't. Clever little sucker is what it is, but, since the combination took place in that certain part your mind-it was like an electrical current really-the chakra will continue to eat away at that part of your mind, wearing it down, you know?"

All the information swirled around him as he tried to take it in.

"So your saying that this poisonous chakra inside me is eating away my memories?"

"Yes. It'll be a slow process, but eventually you'll loose all of them until all you have left are the new ones after the accident that made the chakra-poison...for lack of a better word. I was able to save that much of your brain by putting a barrier of my own chakra around the foreign shiz, plus the rest of that portion of your brain."

"This is way over my head."

Old Hattie sighed before shaking her head as she seemed to wrack her own brain for solutions.

"It's the first something like this has ever happened to anyone that I know…but…that is the reason you shouldn't leave us. Your memories might come back, even after the chakra finally shorts out after it runs out of things to eat away, if they are triggered by a strong reaction to something or someone from your past…and we might be able to keep a few of those memories if you talk about them everyday, reiterating them into your mind. But if you leave, you wouldn't know where to go, and you'd probably end up getting killed. Plus, I do know someone who might be able to help you…maybe he could destroy the poison before it could finish its job…I daresay we could get you there in good time…you'd just have to stay with us for a while."

There was a strained silence between them until she turned a white eye at him to look at him cynically. His fingers were rubbing his temples as he thought of his other possible options…there weren't many.

"Would you let me sta--"

"Yes, I think we'll have use for you. You're strong-enough…well you look strong enough."

She cut him off, fixing a stray amulet that had fallen out of the knot of the others hanging about her neck. He looked up at her, surprised.

"You're going to help me? Just like that? But…don't you care about…you know, Kyuubi?"

He waited for the witch to amend herself and send him on his way, probably without any food either; well he couldn't blame her…he was surprised that no one had killed him already because of the Demon…

"BAH!"

He jumped again as she started laughing, again, in that strange, disturbing manner.

"You--ha--you don't know who we are, do you Blondie?"

"What do you mean?"

Another wheeze. Another cackle.

"We are the Outcasts. All the people the world didn't want, left for dead or worse. Gods know we wouldn't care if you have a Demon--I actually think you'll be quite popular for it; you'll have the most interesting stories to tell!"

He blinked.

"So…you don't care?"

"Does it look like I care Blondie?"

Another pause.

"…No."

"Good. Now…I think I'm going to name you…hmm…"

The nin raised a blonde eye-brow skeptically as he waited. Hattie's face seemed to twist a bit, scrunching up as she thought for a moment until the idea dawned on her, and she smiled.

"Aiiro."

"Indigo blue? What that hell is that suppose to stand for?"

He asked indignantly, and her laugh rung through the air as she bent over to pick up her rod, dust it off, and then slip it back into her robes.

"And what's with the stick--eh--HEY! Where are you going?!"

She moved in her ancient manner over to the most elaborately decorated stone-hovel (shocker there), and pushed aside the curtain hanging over the door for privacy, unveiling an inside that would make any magpie or packrat jealous.

"I'm getting you decent clothes before everyone gets here!"

She told him, diving into a pile of clothing herself, seeming to merge with the mass. He watched, fascinated of how someone her size could vanish so easily into one pile. He heard the clinking and shredding as things were pushed aside until…

"Hel-melanpfromemta-kushplenetuti-HA!"

Her muffled, meaningless jabber was cut off suddenly as she leaped back up, clothing that actually looked his size this time in her hand.

"Here now, go put this on!"

She ordered him, turning to plop down onto a throne of silks and pillows, bedecked with chains and jewelry, leaning back, as though to get comfortable.

Truly, it was like a Dragon's cave of treasure in there, and it wasn't to long before he located the curtain that was apparently used as a dressing room behind her "throne" , and he went behind it to change.

As he peeled off the shirt that was already beginning to stick to his tanned skin from the hot air, Kyuubi decided to put in its input.

'_Aiiro…I like it. Sounds…dangerous. Mysterious. Like the dark hero that all the ladies throw themselves to the ground for. What about you?'_

'I dunno…it just doesn't seem to…fit.'

'_Well of course you don't think it fits, because it's obviously not your name and you're not used to it. But why don't you just stick to it instead of being "the nameless guy" for all the time that you're here?'_

'I guess…'

The blonde still seemed hesitant as he began to look at the new shirt in front of him to discern how exactly it went _on_…did that buckle go there or--what the hell, was that another strap? How in the--

'_You're looking at it upside down, kit.'_

Kyuubi sighed and put its head on its paws in defeat.

'_How come I ended up with a vessel that can't even put a shirt on correctly?'_

'HEY, THIS IS HARDER THEN WHAT IT LOOKS--I'd like to see YOU try, Mr. I'm Good-at-everything fox.'

'_HELLOOO. Paws. No opposable thumbs. And I will have you know I am NOT a mister. I have no gender. Us demons can choose, because we're so much better then you mortals.'_

'You can choose your gender?'

'_Why yes, actually--'_

"OIIIII!"

He was shaken out of his thoughts again by Old Hattie's screech.

"Hmm?"

He asked from behind the curtain. Hattie made a sigh.

"That whole conversations in your mind thing is simply going to have to stop. It's bothersome to get your attention."

"Sorr--"

"Anyway, I wanted to know if you remembered anything about where you're from. One of the outer farming villages perhaps? Because it looked like you had known what you're doing…you were trained by a ninja, yes?"

"Trained? Lady, I AM a ninja! And I'm one of the best, see--"

His hand went immediately up to where his forehead protector usually rested, only to meet…bandages.

"My…head-band…What did you do with my head-band?"

He asked in a dangerous tone. If they got rid of his head-band, that was it, memories or no memories, he was out of here--

"If I told you I burned it, do you really think you could run away? You'd forget where you are and where you were going within days. The second you get out of my reach, I won't be able to manage the chakra barrier I put on you to prevent the poison from spreading to your present memories. If you leave, it'll eventually disappear, and you'll have amnesia forever, forgetting everything you did the day before. Plus, you can't get the cure you need unless you have me and my…contacts."

What was she trying to say--

"But no, I didn't really. Aiiro…we found you without a headband…you were born and raised in a Hidden Village?"

Hands searched a head that now felt so naked and bare.

"I…thought I did…but now…"

Now…he didn't remember. He didn't remember anything.

And he didn't know if he ever would.

--

**WHOO! Eleven pages, Times New Roman Font, size TEN! Yesss...**

**Anywhose, here's a few details:**

**(1) Umm, I'm not sure if Gypsy Queens exist in the Naruto verse...well, actually, I'm pretty sure they don't, but that's okay, it was pretty much to paint a mental image.**

**Thank you very much!**


End file.
